Daily Reflections
May 12
THE PAST IS OVER
A.A. experience has taught us we cannot live alone with our pressing problems and the character defects which cause or aggravate them. If Step Four has revealed in stark relief those experiences we’d rather not remember … then the need to quit living by ourselves with those tormenting ghosts of yesterday gets more urgent than ever. We have to talk to somebody about them.
-TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 55
Whatever is done is over. It cannot be changed. But my attitude about it can be changed through talking with those who have gone before and with sponsors. I can wish the past never was, but if I change my actions in regard to what I have done, my attitude will change. I won’t have to wish the past away. I can change my feelings and attitudes, but only through my actions and the help of my fellow alcoholics.
Twenty-Four Hours A
Day
May 12
A.A. Thought for the Day
When we come into A.A., looking for a way out of drinking, we really need a lot more than that. We need fellowship. We need to get the things that are troubling us out into the open. We need a new outlet for our energies and we need a new strength beyond ourselves that will help us face life instead of running away from it. In A.A. we find these things that we need. Have I found the things that I need?
Meditation for the Day
Turn out all thoughts of doubt and fear and resentment. Never tolerate them if you can help it. Bar the windows and doors of your mind against them, as you would bar your home against a thief who would steal in to take away your treasures. What greater treasures can you have than faith and courage and love? All these are stolen from you by doubt and fear and resentment. Face each day with peace and hope. They are results of true faith in God. Faith gives you a feeling of protection and safety that you can get in no other way.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may feel protected and safe, but not only when I am in the harbor. I pray that I may have protection and safety even in the midst of the storms of life.
Walk in Dry Places
May 12
Repeating the old
hurts
Serenity
It’s been pointed out that the real meaning of resentment is to “re-feel” an old injury. This means that we let ourselves feel again the pain we had when we were previously wronged.
Common sense tells us that this is a foolish practice. But with emotions like resentment, common sense can be crowded out. It is a rare person who can avoid resentment about matters that caused deep injury. Resentment is so much a part of everyday life. In fact, that it’s considered abnormal not to resent a real wrong.
We’ve also been conditioned to believe that we’re being spineless and wimpy if we don’t become outraged by certain injustices and wrongs. There’s a difference, however, between feeling strongly that something is wrong and being sullen and resentful about it. The first kind of feeling helps us remedy the problem; the second feeling simply intensifies our hurt. Under no circumstances can we afford resentment.
I’ll make this day resentment-free, despite the currents of feeling and bitterness around me. “Re-feeling” old injuries is not the way to the happier life I seek.
Keep It Simple
May 12
You can observe a lot just by watching.
-Yogi Berra
When we watch others, we learn how to “act as if.” We watch a patient person, and then we “act as if we’re a patient person. The result? Over time, we’ll become a patient person. We watch how good listeners listen, and we “act as if” we know how to listen. Then one day, we realize we’re really listening! We watch people who have faith, and we “act as if” we have it. Then over time, we become spiritual people!
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me find You in the people and events of my day.
Action for the Day: I will “act as if” my Higher Power is standing next to me all through the Day.
Life is like a taxi. The meter just keeps a-ticking whether you are getting somewhere or just standing still.
–Lou Erickson
“The way to develop the best that is in a man is by appreciation and encouragement.”
–Charles Schwab
Father Leo’s Daily
Meditation
May 12
RESPONSIBILITY
“Man must cease attributing his problems to his environment and learn again to exercise his will, his personal responsibility in the realm of faith and morals.”
–Albert Schweitzer
God has created me to be a responsible human being and that means that I must seriously consider the choices and decisions that could affect my life and the lives of others. Today I understand that true freedom can only be experienced within the restraints of a responsible life.
For years I blamed other people for my drunken behavior – family, bishops, job, world situations – even God! But the truth was that I lived an irresponsible life around alcohol. I ignored the facts that surrounded my drinking.
Today I make a responsible decision not to drink, and I also take responsibility for my life. I cannot blame other people for the mistakes that I made. My real freedom is experienced in my responsibility.
Give me the freedom to impose my own constraints.
Daily Inspiration
May 12
Today do what you can and expect no more of yourself. Lord, I will feel joy in my accomplishments today and gratitude for the things I have to do tomorrow.
Praise accomplishes great things. Lord, let me be your instrument in touching lives and changing hearts.
Elder’s Meditation
of the Day
May 12
“All the stones that are around here, each one has a language of its own. Even the earth has a song.”
-Wallace Black Elk, LAKOTA
To believe that every tree, plant, and insect can talk takes an open mind. Go by yourself into nature and sit quietly. Then pick up a rock and listen to your thoughts. After a while, put that rock down and pick up another rock. Your thoughts will change. These are the voices and wisdom of the Stone People. Each one has different wisdom and they are willing to share their wisdom with you. Many of the Stone People are very old and very wise.
Great Spirit, let every rock and leaf be my teacher.
Journey to the
Heart
May 12
Discover Inspiration Points
Sometimes, we become so caught up in the daily grind that we forget how much beauty and inspiration our world offers. We forget about the power of inspiration.
My favorite inspiration point in Colorado is a small stand next to the Royal Gorge Bridge, the highest suspension bridge in the world. The stand overlooks the gorge, offering a magnificent overview of canyons, mountains, peaks, and plains. In Bryce Canyon, the place called Inspiration Point overlooks massive canyons. From that vantage point, you can see delicately shaped spirals, in the orange iron color so prominent in the canyon, surrounded by the lighter sandstone and sulfur peaks.
What inspires you? Discover inspiration points– those high places of the spirit from which you can see more, see more clearly, see more beautifully. Spend time taking in a grander view of life. See how calming and inspiring it is. See how you return to life with vigor, enthusiasm, and passion.
Visit places that invigorate your soul, help you see the larger picture. Find places in your home, your community, your state. Look for that place in yourself, that sacred inspiration point within you, where your soul and heart see the larger picture, where you and your ideas come to life, where you make the connection between your soul and the world around you. Seek the power of inspiration.
Inspiration points abound. Open up. Look around. When you seek inspiration, it will come to you.
Today’s Gift
May 12
I would be honest, for there are those who trust me.
—Howard Arnold Walter
Some of those around us seem to see only the good in us. They trust and respect us, even when we ourselves may not feel we deserve it.
A young girl once talked about her grandfather. She said, “He was the only person in my life who saw the good in me.” She mentioned that she sought to please her grandfather and not disappoint the trust, which he placed in her. He brought out the best in her because of the way that he looked at her. Each of us can be like this grandfather by focusing on the good in other people. We can use our spiritual eyes to see love, honesty, trustworthiness, and unselfishness in the heart of another. As we look for the good, we are doing our part to help create it.
Do I see the good in those around me right now?
Touchstones
Meditation For Men
May 12
In my friend, I find a second self.
—Isabel Norton
Our mates and close friends present us with another view on what it is to be a human being. In being close we lower our barriers and get a feeling for what life is like from that person’s perspective. We develop a feeling of empathy for him or her, and we multiply our life experiences by participating with others.
Through our closeness to someone, we might be confronted by a new awareness of ourselves. We may see something about ourselves we don’t like and could never have seen on our own. We may see how similar we are to our friends, or how different, or how common and human our problems are. While each man lives his own life, through empathy we are given another window on the experience of living. Having a friend is a rich experience, which increases our wisdom about life.
I am thankful for relationships. I feel grateful that I am not alone.
Daily TAO
May 12
RECOGNITION
Spokes on the heavenly wheel
Keep rotation constant.
Those who follow Tao believe that Tao progresses through phases. They apply this principle to all levels of their outlook, from cosmology to the stages of growth in a person’s life. On the macro-cosmic level, they point to the rotation of the stars as evidence of smooth progression. In a person’s life, they recognize the stages of aging beginning with childhood and ending with death.
Each one of us must go from phase to phase in our development. If we stay too long in one stage, we will be warped or stunted in our growth. If we rush through a stage, then we will gain none of the rewards or learning experiences of that phase. Subsequent growth will be thrown off-balance; we will either have to go back and make it up, or, in the cases of experiences that can never be repeated, lose out on them forever. The proper discerning of these transitions is essential.